A Case of Redemption
by bluham52
Summary: Dazai's suicide attempt is interrupted and leads to a new case that may be too much for him and the Agency to bear.
1. A Beautiful Time To Die

**Disclaimer: I don't own Bungou Stray Dogs characters but the originals that show up later are all mine.**

* * *

The clock tower rang out over the city of Yokohama. One. Two. Three. 3AM. A beautiful time of night. A beautiful time to die.

Dazai sat on the edge of the roof of the grand stone building, his legs dangled precariously over the side. His eyes gazed upwards. The moon cast a pale blue glow over the landscape and the stars danced across the darkened background of the night sky. The wind brought the sweet smell of the cherry blossoms, intoxicating him with their perfume, as it blew his hair across his face. It was an almost poetic spring night. Such a shame that he was planning to sully this peaceful serenity with his death.

 _I guess now is as good a time as any._ He thought and sighed as he stood up. As his feet shifted ever closer to the edge of the tower, he gazed out into the landscape for what would be the last time. Dazai had always loved the view from this building. The skyline of downtown Yokohama glistened in the reflection on the river in the distance. He closed his eyes, inhaled the cherry blossoms and closed his eyes, ready to take his final leap.

 _"You told me you might find a reason to live…"_

 _Damn it, Odasaku._ He faltered. Dazai shook his head, trying to rid his senses of his friend's final moments. He felt his heart begin to race, like it did that day. Tears threatened to fall. This had been happening a lot more lately. Every time he stood on a ledge, held the razor to his wrist, or slid the noose around his neck, he would see a vision of his dear friend and his resolve would crumble.

Exhausting wasn't even the best way to describe the past five years of his life. Had it already been five years? Five years since Dazai watched his only friend, bleed out in front of his eyes. His blood soaked hands clutching his dear friend, desperately pleading for him to hold on.

" _Nothing in this world can fill that lonely hole you have."_

He knew that. In a way, he had always know. Dazai had been hiding behind this mask of indifference for so long that was bound to take its toll eventually. He had tried living in a world of violence and pain. Now he was in a world of redemption, trying to do some good before he left this earth permanently.

 _"Save the weak and protect the orphans."_

There was one bright spot in that never-ending sea of darkness, however.

Atsushi.

The orphan had come out of nowhere to save his life in the river. Dazai had thought for sure that that was going to be the day he finally succumbed. He had even sent Kunikida on some wild goose chase to keep him and the others at the Agency at bay. Dazai didn't remember much after losing consciousness in the water. He did, however, remember the intense gaze of purple and gold looking at him as he coughed the water from his lungs.

Something in the boy's eyes made him want to change. Atsushi's passion for life and his sheer will to keep fighting beyond any and all hope inspired him to keep going. For a while, his suicide attempts became jest as opposed to anything serious. But lately, even Atsushi wasn't enough to keep him going anymore.

 _"I know better than anyone…because I am your friend."_

His dear friend's dying words struck Dazai's heart again. Tears welled up in the man's eyes. This time he couldn't help but let them flow freely down his cheeks. He fell back away from the ledge and collapsed against the cold stone wall. His resolve to continue once again gone.

"I've been trying, Odasaku." he whispered.

A sudden unnatural flicker of light in the distance caught Dazai's attention. _A muzzle flash?_ After years in the Mafia there was no mistaking it for anything else. Another flash. And another. A pit began forming in Dazai's stomach. Something didn't feel right about this.

 _"Be on the side that saves people."_

"I'll do that, Oda. Even if it's just this one last time.", he sighed under his breath, taking off toward the flashes.

* * *

"Atsushi!"

A hushed whispered startled him awake. At first, he could only see the cold blue glow of the computer screens. The boy sighed. He had fallen asleep at the office again.

The past few days had been busy for the Agency and especially for him and Dazai. Ranpo had found leads on a possible Guild splinter group so they had run themselves ragged, chasing down every possible location.

They had been so busy working out this latest case that exhaustion had finally taken its toll on him. Atsushi hadn't even spent any time in his own dorm, settling for eating, sleeping, and even showering at the office.

The weretiger was exhausted. He was about to doze off again when someone began shaking him. Atsushi blinked to clear his foggy vision only to see the frantic redhead move to start shaking him again.

"What the hell, Tanizaki?" he hissed.

"We have to go. It's Dazai." Atsushi sat up like a shot. Any and all exhaustion was chased away by the adrenaline of urgency.

"Is he all right?" Concern was evident in Atsushi's voice. While his suicide attempts had tapered off in recent months, anything regarding Dazai was usually cause for concern.

"I don't know." Tanizaki replied."All I got was this." Tanizaki showed him the text on his phone. 

IN THE FOREST OUTSIDE YOKOHAMA

WAKE ATSUSHI-KUN.

HE SHOULD BE SLEEPING IN THE AGENCY OFFICE.

PLEASE HURRY. I NEED YOU.

The last words of Dazai's text echoed in Atsushi's head. _I Need You._ Now wide awake, he quickly nodded to Tanizaki.

"Let's go!"

* * *

 **Just getting back into writing after several years away and this story wasn't letting me go. Definitely still a work in progress. Leave a review if you would like. I love getting feedback from others. Currently don't have a beta but if anyone's interested please let me know.**


	2. Lost in the Night

Dazai was hopelessly lost. He had managed to make his way down from the bell tower and into the forest where he had seen the muzzle flashes. But now that he was among the trees, he sense of direction was beginning to fail him. Not that he had much of a sense of direction to start with.

The flashes had stopped. In their place was an endless darkness, broken only by the occasional beam of moonlight shining through the thick canopy of leaves above him. He sighed.

 _Kunikida's gonna love this_. The man was always complaining about how his lack of directional sense constantly made them late. Dazai could hear Kunikida's scolding in his ear as he pushed his way through branches and brush. He was about the backtrack the way he came when the ground came crashing towards his face.

"What the hell?" he groaned and brushed himself off. His hands were wet, sticky with dirt and dew.

 _I could have been committing a beautiful suicide._

Instead, he was traipsing about the forest in the dead of night and getting dirty. Dazai, out of frustration, kicked the tree root he had just tripped on. When his foot hit something soft, he realized.

 _That's not a tree._

The moonlight returned just long enough for Dazai to see a small frail arm in the grass. Dazai looked at the fragile figure, his hand moved to brush the hair out of his face. He gasped. His hands were covered in blood.

It was the young face that shocked him the most. The poor boy couldn't have been more than twelve or thirteen. His eyes followed the boy's figure from his face down his body. That's when he noticed the wound on the boy's back. The unease in his stomach shifted from shock to anger. Dazai knew he had done some unspeakable things in his time at Port Mafia. But even he would never do anything as horrifically cruel as to shoot a child in the back.

Dazai's rage was suddenly broken by a sharp intake of breath underneath him.

 _Wait, the kid's still alive?_ The shock wore off quickly. He had to move fast if this kid was going to have any chance at all of making it. Dazai was looking over the boy's face when his eyes suddenly opened, fear filling his eyes, his breath rapidly increasing. He noticed how sharp and intense the young boy's eyes were.

 _Just like Atsushi's._

"Shhhh…take it easy. I'm not going to hurt you." he whispered gently. "I'm going to get you out of here." The boy coughed out three words before losing consciousness again.

"Help…help us."

* * *

They were lost. They knew Dazai was somewhere in this monster of a forest but Dazai also gave them shit directions. Not for the first time, Atsushi wondered if he needed to put a GPS beacon on his friend. Especially after his latest suicide attempt. The pair were about to turn around when they heard voices in the darknesses.

"Taniza…" a hand clamped over his mouth.

"Shhh!" Tanizaki whispered. A flurry of green enveloped the pair as his Light Snow hid them among the trees.

"I can't believe we lost that brat!" a man hollered.

"He couldn't have gotten far. Keep looking." Two men, both carrying large automatic weapons, walked into the clearing. The way they were dressed, Atsushi could swear they were part of the Mafia. Something was off about them but Atsushi couldn't quite figure out what.

"I was pretty sure I hit him, too."

"What happened to taking him alive?"

"My orders were to bring him back. Alive was never part of the equation. That kid can die in a ditch for all I care."

"What are they talking about?" Tanizaki wondered. He backed up until his body collided with fur. Atsushi? He gasped as he looked up to see rage in the tiger's eyes.

"Woah, Atsushi! No!" he hissed. Where the hell was Dazai? Tanizaki wasn't sure he could keep the weretiger from going absolutely postal on these guys. "Atsushi, Calm down! This isn't the time."

"They're talking about killing a child, Tanizaki. We can't just do nothing."

"I'm not saying we do nothing. But listen…we have to find Dazai and this kid…before they do."

* * *

There was so much blood. Too much blood. Dazai knew this kid wasn't going to make it if he didn't move fast. He had already torn off some of his own bandages to help stop some of the bleeding but he had no idea how much time that would by him.

Lights were flashing all around them. Whoever was after this kid was determined to find him and Dazai had to make sure that didn't happen. Dazai set the boy down gently, careful not to make his wounds any worse than they already were.

"Damn it, Tanizaki! Where are you?"

"Above you." Tanizaki and Atsushi came swinging down from the tree above him.

"What took you both so long?"

"You give piss poor directions for starters." The two of them continued to bicker while Atsushi rushed up to the kid. He brushed the hair out from in front of his face. It was black and blue from various beatings…a thing Atsushi knew about all too well. Why? Why did those men want this child dead? What could this kid have possibly done to deserve this.

"Enough!" Atsushi shouted at them. " We have to get him out of here. He's barely breathing." Dazai nodded.

"Tanizaki, you keep Light Snow going to provide us with some cover. Atsushi, I think it's time for our friends in black to meet the tiger."

"With pleasure." Atsushi smiled.

Dazai was worried about how much pleasure Atsushi would get out of torturing the men surrounding them. They would have to have a talk about that later. He carefully bent down to pick up the injured child. Dazai could feel the boy's weakening breath on his cheek.

"Hang in there, kid." He nodded to Tanizaki. "Let's get the hell out of here!"

A roar erupted through the night air as they all ran for their lives.


	3. Vigil

Back with another chapter...this is what happens when your trapped on a bus for four and a half hours. Enjoy!

* * *

Beep…beep…beep.

The rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor was the only sound to greet Dazai's ears as he walked into the darkened infirmary, careful to silently close the door behind him.

At the center of the room was the young man they had brought in earlier that morning. They were lucky this hospital was so damn close. The Agency had developed a sort of mutual understanding with the most of the medical staff there. Many of the Agency members would come here to get treatment if they were only mildly injured or didn't want to suffer through Yosano's "treatment." Dazai shuttered at the thought of the boy having to be exposed to that kind of treatment, especially after being shot.

A flash of lightning lit up the room for the briefest of moments, allowing Dazai to catch the barely perceivable rise and fall of the boy's chest. Dazai relaxed when he could confirm with his own eyes that the kid was in fact still alive. They had been lucky to get him out of that forest when they did. The rain would have made their escaped a lot more difficult, even with The boy looked awful, incredibly pale and fragile looking, but he was alive.

Dazai smiled softly when his eyes caught sight of Atsushi, who was curled up in a ball on the chair next to the bed.

 _He even sleeps like a cat._

"Atsushi-kun." he whispered. Dazai gently pet the boy's silver hair as he slept. The poor thing looked exhausted, having spent half early morning hours chasing the men in black in the forest. Dazai didn't ask when his partner came back from his misadventures soaking wet. Cuts and bruises marked his body and he couldn't tell exactly who's blood was on the young man's clothes. Atsushi just glared at him when he walked through the door and spent the rest of the night keeping a quiet vigil at the injured boy's bedside.

Dazai sighed. They would have to have a talk about his reckless behavior later.

"Atsushi-kun, wake up. Come on, you have to open your eyes now."

"Dazai-san?" Atsushi blinked, his eyes trying to adjust to the dark. "How long was I asleep?"

"Only a couple of hours. How is he?"

"He's still out of it. They said that the bullet missed his spine by an inch. He's really lucky they're such a bad shot. The doctors were able to repair most of the damage during surgery. He's lost a lot of blood but the doctor who came in earlier seems to think that he might be okay. They'll know a little better once he regains consciousness." He sighed and curled his knees up in the chair to meet his chin. "Dazai, if he had been out there any longer, he…he wouldn't have made it."

Atsushi grew quiet, letting the sound of the heart monitor fill the uncomfortable silence in the room. Tears began to cascade down Atsushi's cheeks. Dazai continued to pet the young man's hair, trying to offer some form of comfort to him.

"Who would do something like this, Dazai?" The crack of his young partner's voice was enough to break Dazai's heart in two. Atsushi wore his heart on his sleeve and he knew the situation with this kid was tearing him apart.

"I don't know."

"We have to find out. We have to…" he growled angrily.

"Easy, Atsushi." Dazai warned. "I know you're eager to bust skulls. You want revenge on whoever did this but Atsushi, you need to calm yourself."

"I don't need you patronizing me, Dazai." Atsushi was getting annoyed at Dazai persistence. He moved away from him, turning his attention back to the wounded child on the bed.

"Show me your arm."

"What?"

"Your arm, Atsushi." Dazai repeated, a little more sternly. The boy reluctantly held out his arm, wincing in pain as Dazai grabbed his bruised wrist.

"You let your emotions get the best of you. And judging by that reaction…your left wrist is broken." Atsushi shamefully hid his eyes and pulled his arm away from Dazai. He really didn't need a lecture right now.

"These cuts and bruises should have been healed by now. But they're not. Your ability to control your power seems to be tied to your emotions and yours are still a wreck. Get it together."

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Atsushi! You need to pull yourself together and learn to get a grip on your emotions or it will eventually cost you your life."

Atsushi's head snapped around and his eyes glared at Dazai with frightening intensity. Dazai knew he was being harsh with Atsushi but he needed his young partner to be able to act rationally if they were ever going to figure out what happen to this kid.

"Dazai…they shot a child! In the back! They can't just get a pass on this!"

"I'm not saying they should. But…"

"Dazai, they said that he should just go die in a ditch somewhere!"

Dazai was taken aback. Atsushi had grown into his voice over the past year, learning to speak for himself and others. But he was still soft spoken and rarely shouted at anyone, especially not Dazai. Atsushi turned his back on the older man, moving over to stare out the dark room's only window. Tears flowed freely once again, this time matching the intensity of the rain that had started to come down outside.

"Atsushi-kun." he sighed. Dazai knew a little about his young friend's past in the the orphanage. The sisters and headmaster would often call him worthless, that he should make everyone's life easier and just die in a ditch somewhere.

 _No wonder Atsushi is so protective of this kid._

Dazai let him be. After a year of working with him, Dazai knew when to offer comfort, when to lecture, and when to just let the young weretiger deal with things on his own. Lecturing him any further today wasn't going to do him any good.

Dazai turned his attention away from Atsushi to the young man lying unconscious in the hospital bed. He noticed the jade dragon hanging from chain around the boys neck. Dazai reached into his pocket and pulled out similar necklace. This one resembled the boy's chain but it was slightly more delicate and dangling from this one was a jade butterfly. The boy had it clenched in his fist when Dazai had found him. He knew it must be important so when the doctors gave it to him before the surgery, Dazai held on to it for safe keeping. Maybe it would help them figure out exactly who this kid is.

Atsushi looked over from the window when he heard Dazai sigh. He watch the older man as he studied the broken necklace in his hand. Atsushi noticed the concerned look on his partner's face.

"Dazai? What's wrong?"

"I can't shake it."

"Shake what?"

"Something the kid said to me right before he passed out."

"What?"

"He said…Help us."

"Us?" Atsushi shook his head. "Dazai, you don't think we left someone out there, do you?"

"I don't know." He put the necklace back in his pocket. "There's nothing we can do tonight anyways. Why don't you go home? You can still catch a few hours sleep until the rest of the agency shows up in the morning. You can even stay in the office again if you'd like."

"You knew about that?"

"Everybody knew about that."

"I'd rather stay."

"Do I have to make it an order?"

"But I…"

"Atsushi-kun." The soft sternness in Dazai's voice stopped him. "I promise you'll be the first one I call when he wakes up. Then we'll find the bastards that did this."


	4. Awakening

It seemed like hours had passed since Dazai tried in vain to get Atsushi to go home. Instead, his young partner had settled for resuming his cat-like state and fell asleep in his chair. That was fine with Dazai, he preferred not to get into another sleep deprived argument with him this morning. Tanizaki didn't need to be asked twice. He told Dazai he would check in with the rest of the Agency and come back later.

10am. That was when the quiet room suddenly became a cacophony of noise and chaos. The heart monitors screamed as the child in the bed woke in a raging panic. The kid attempted to rise from the bed only to fall back down in a series of coughing fits. The noise was enough to send a startled Atsushi over backwards in his chair. Dazai raced to the boy's side and started rubbing circles on the his back to try to ease his strangled gasps.

"Easy, breathe! There you go! Atsushi, get the nurse." Atsushi raced out of the room while Dazai focused on the boy. The kid shoved his hands away as Dazai got frustrated.

"Ok, fine. I won't touch you. Just listen to the sound of my voice then. In…one…two…three. Out…one…two…three." The boy's breaths slowly evened out. The monitors settled down, the screaming slowly returning to a rhythmic beat once more.

"I…" the boy rasped.

"Here." Dazai handed the boy a glass of water. He gulped it down in two seconds. "Now just relax. I sent my associate out to get a nurse so we have a few minutes alone. Can you speak?"

The boy only nods, refusing to make eye contact with Dazai. He could see the tremors still wracking the poor kid's frail body. This was the first time Dazai had a chance to really look at the boy. He appearance made him seem even younger now than he did when Dazai had found him in the forest. His overgrown black hair covered his eyes and his dried lips trembled with every intake of breath. He noticed several healed over scars on the boy's arms and a large cut on his right cheek.

 _What the hell happened to this kid?_

"What's your name?"

"Na…Naoki. Naoki Okura." The boy's voice was shaky, unstable.

"Naoki. My name's Dazai." The gentleness of Dazai's voice must have broken through somehow because the boy finally turned his way and looked at him. Dazai still couldn't get over the intensity of his gaze. Despite the state of his body, his eyes still held their vibrancy.

"How old are you, Naoki-kun?"

"Twelve." Dazai heart began to pound in rage. Twelve. Naoki was only twelve years old and those heartless bastards had deliberately shot him in the back. Atsushi was right. Whoever did this deserves whatever the Agency had coming to them. He knew he was no saint. Dazai had relentlessly tormented Akutagawa and Chuuya too, to a certain extent. He could be outright cruel. But to deliberately kill an innocent child was not a line he would cross.

"Where am I?" the boy asked, sitting up a little on his pillows. The voice was enough to snap Dazai out of his murderous thoughts, for the time being anyways. Naoki was alive and they had to focus on that at the moment.

"A private wing of a hospital friendly to our Agency."

"A hospital? How did I get here?" Dazai watched the boy look over his surroundings. While his voice seemed to have settled, the fear and panic in the boy's eyes were still very much present. Dazai was at a loss. How the hell was he supposed to explain to a child that someone wanted him dead? He knew what he would do if it was Atsushi but he wasn't exactly skilled at the art of comforting someone so young.

His mind suddenly flashed back to a moment he had almost forgotten. It was right around the time when Odasaku first took those five young orphans into his care. Now that he thought about it, Naoki wasn't that much older than those children.

 _Dazai opened the door quietly, not wanting to disturb the children. The moon shone brightly through the window, lighting Dazai's path up the stairs. He was shocked when he heard a soft humming coming from one of the bedrooms._

 _Through the crack in the doorway, he saw his friend on the bed with one of the orphan boys. The child had a death grip on Oda's arm and tears streamed down his face, soaking Oda's sleeve. Soft hiccups reached Dazai's ears as the boy continued to sob by his friend's side._

 _Oda locked eyes with Dazai, placing a finger on his lips with his free hand. He understood and settled himself in the hallway behind the door. Shutting his eyes, he listened while Oda continued to comfort the child._

 _"Do you think you might be able to sleep now, Shinji?"_

 _"I…I…think so, O…da…sa…ku?" the boy gasped between sobs. Oda gently took the boy's glasses off and laid him back down in his bed, continuing to hum his sweet song until the boy finally closed his eyes._

 _A few minutes later, Dazai heard footsteps as Oda came to sat down beside him in the darken corridor. With a sigh, Oda collapsed his back against the wall._

 _"Didn't know you could sing, Odasaku?" Dazai teased gently._

 _"I don't make a habit of it." Oda said, lighting a cigarette. "But I'll do it, every once in a while. If only for their sake."_

 _"Shinji again?" Oda sighed, tilting his head back against the wall as he blew smoke._

 _"The old man told me that he hasn't slept for three days. The monsters plague his dreams at night."_

 _"They plague all our dreams."_

 _"But some of us had a choice, Dazai. He's far too young to have to be struggling with his own mortality. Kids should just be able to be kids." Dazai nodded, understanding all too well. Oda lit another cigarette and the pair of them sat together in the solemn silence of that darkened hallway, the purpose of Dazai's visit having long been forgotten._

 _"_ Hello…Dazai? Earth to Dazai-san?"

Dazai blinked his eye to see Tanizaki staring at him. The memory of his time with Oda had him so dazed, he didn't even notice Tanizaki walk through the door.

A moment later, Atsushi came walking in with the nurse. The shy woman quickly stepped in to check the boy's vitals and up his pain medication. She flashed the group a sympathetic smile before leaving.

"Hey man, where'd you go? I've been trying to get your attention for the past few minutes."

"Sorry Tanizaki, my mind was elsewhere. I completely spaced out on Naoki though."

"It's ok. He just fell back asleep." Atsushi said, joining the group by the window after leading the the nurse out. The agents were finally alone to contemplate the silent question that was on everyone's mind.

"What's the plan, now that the kid's awake?" Dazai sighed. Tanizaki had a point. Naoki was alive and now they had to figure out how to keep him that way.

"We have to assume that whoever's after him is going to come back."

"So what do we do, Dazai?"

"We need more information from Naoki about who these people are and where they were holding him." Dazai made a point to look at Atsushi next. "Going off in a blind rage isn't going to help us here." Atsushi turned away from Dazai, refusing to acknowledge him.

"You were saying before that there may be more people in trouble?" Tanizaki asked, temporarily defusing the tension filling the room.

"Before Naoki passed out in the forest…he said…Help us."

"Help us?"

"Yes, so I'm assuming there are more people, maybe even more children out there somewhere."

"Is it the Mafia?" Atsushi inquired.

"I'm going to figure that out." Dazai said, knowingly. He had asked himself the same question. Mori wouldn't do the dirty work himself but he would consider ordering others to do it. But trafficking in human beings carried too much unnecessary risk.

"The Mafia doesn't stand to benefit from actions like this, which leads me to think we're dealing with another group. One that likes to traffic in human beings."

A soft cry startled the group away from their conversation. Naoki had tried to sit up once more only to fall back down in a spasm of pain.

"Hey, easy there kid. Don't try to move." Tanizaki said, moving to the kid's side.

"Everything hurts. Why does it hurt?" The three agency members cast a glance at each other, not sure how to answer the kid.

"Naoki-kun, do you remember talking to me?"

"Yeah. Dazai-san. You…you helped me."

"That's right. Do you think you can remember anything about what happened?" Dazai asked.

"I just remember running through the woods. I think I heard a tiger's roar and then everything went black. I must have been going crazy cause what would a tiger be doing in the woods out here." Naoki's last statement got a chuckle out of Dazai as he smiled at Atsushi.

"Do you remember anything else?"

"I remember…I remember pain. Just a lot of pain. And then…"

"Easy Naoki-kun. Take your time. Then what?" Dazai gently guided.

"You…your eyes. I remember seeing them before everything went away." Naoki broke off his eye contact and turned away from Dazai. The boy's shoulders started to shake as Naoki silently sobbed. Dazai sighed, not sure how to proceed with a crying child. Tanizaki shrugged

"Why was I out there? Why can't…Why can't I remember?"

"Naoki-kun It's going to be okay." Atsushi said, placing a comforting hand on the boy's arm. Dazai hoped Atsushi would be able to get through to the boy.

"No! Let me go! Don't touch me!" Naoki suddenly screamed. Atsushi's touch had set off a lightning fast reaction in the boy. Naoki tried to back away but suddenly grabbed a tight hold of Atsushi's arm.

"Arrrggg!" Atsushi suddenly screamed in pain. He tried to break free of the death grip the boy held on his arm but the Naoki would not release him. Atsushi arched his back in painful spasms and blood started to leak from his nose and mouth.

"Atsushi!"

"No! Let him go!" Tanizaki screamed as he tried to pry to boy's hands off Atsushi. Naoki flung his arm, the strength of it sent Tanizaki flying across the room. His back hit the wall with a sickening thud and crumbled to the ground, unconscious.

"Tanizaki!" Dazai raced to his colleagues side. He breathed a sigh of relief when he could see the rise and fall of Tanizaki's chest. Dazai quickly turned his attention to Atsushi and Naoki, approaching cautiously. He didn't want to be the next one thrown against the wall.

"Dazai!" Atsushi gasped. "I can't breathe." Dazai quickly caught him before he collapsed in agony onto the floor as Naoki finally let go. The boy backed away before making a break for it. The boy froze in the doorway and stared back at the chaos he had created. He locked eyes with Dazai, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm sorry…I can't. I'm sorry." Naoki cried and raced out of the room.

"No wait!" Dazai called after the boy. Dazai didn't understand what was going on. A moment ago, the boy could barely speak. Within seconds, however, the kid had the strength to take out two of his subordinates.

"Dazai." Atsushi gasped, snapping Dazai from his thoughts. Atsushi, unable to keep his eyes open any longer, closed them as his breath left him.

"Atsushi! Atsushi!" The young man's face was pale, lacking it's usual color and brightness. Dazai pressed his fingers against the cold skin of Atsushi's neck. Nothing.

"No. No, no, no, no! Atsushi! Help! Somebody, please help!"

The nurse who smiled at them before came rushing in with two others, shoving Dazai out of the way while they got to work on Atsushi. One of the three nurses rushed over to Tanizaki, trying to rouse the unconscious agent. After a couple minutes, Dazai could hear a cough coming from his direction.

The two nurses working on Atsushi quickly got him on a gurney and proceeded to race him out of the room. Dazai ran along side them as far as he was allowed until he was forced to stay behind. The doors slammed in his face with such finality. Dazai sighed and blinked away the tears that threatened to fall from his eyes. There was nothing more he could do for Atsushi right now.

 _How the hell did things go so wrong, so fast?_

Dazai walked back to the room where the nurse was still working on Tanizaki. He was still sitting on the floor but he had his back propped up against the wall. Dazai could hear the hiss of oxygen as the nurse was forcing Tanizaki into an oxygen mask. The young man winced in pain as the nurse poked at him but he still managed to flash Dazai a grin. Dazai knew he was faking it but he appreciated the gesture.

"Tani…"

"I'm fine, Dazai." Tanizaki wheezed. "Go."

Dazai didn't like the idea of leaving one subordinate struggling to breathe and the other struggling to survive but he had to find out what had happened.

 _I need to find that kid._

* * *

 **So sorry for the long wait. I've worked really hard to get this chapter out sooner but life got in the way. Hopefully the next one will be out sooner. Thanks for the follows and reviews. They help keep me motivated. :)**


	5. Monster

Dazai's patience was waning. He had been wandering aimlessly through the halls of the hospital for the past half hour looking for that damn kid. Dazai wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do once he found him. Naoki, even in his wounded state, had managed to critically injure two of his fellow agents. He knew he had to find him soon though, before the panicked child lashed out again.

Dazai soon found himself two floors down in the pediatric ward. As he glanced up and down the bustling halls, Dazai was left to wonder how the kid could have possibly gotten this far with how injured he was.

He was about the head back to check on the others, when he spotted a small wet spot on the floor. It would have easily been missed by the otherwise occupied hospital staff. He knelt down to investigate, touching the red liquid with his fingers. Blood. Dazai smiled, mischievously.

 _Clever lad._

Despite everything, Dazai had to admit that Naoki's self preservation instincts were quite impressive. Of course, no one would suspect a kid wandering around in this ward. He took a quick look around. So far there was no sign that the boy had hurt anybody else but Dazai really didn't want to take the chance. Not in this ward.

He followed the small trail of blood until it finally ended at one of the hospital's many supply closets. Quietly approaching, he put an ear to the door to hear the muffled sounds of crying inside.

"I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster."

Those were the only words Dazai could make out through the door. He slowly turned the handle to open the closet, hearing a quick scurrying and clattering of what sounded like plastic bottles hitting the floor.

"No!"

"Naoki-kun?" Dazai whispered gently. The closet lights were off. He could only see a sliver of the boy's shaking form in the beam of light spilling in from the hallway. Naoki was curled up in the furthest corner of the closet, tucked between shelves of medical gloves, saline, and backup medications. Tears were cascading down his face and his body wracked with sobs. His knees were curled up to his chest and one hand was wrapped around them while the other played with the jade dragon on his neck.

Dazai slipped into the dark closet, quickly closing and locking the door behind him. It was better if they remained alone. He didn't want some poor medical assistant suffering the same fate as his agents.

"Why'd you come after me? Stay away!" Naoki shouted when Dazai took yet another step closer. The boy was in rough shape. Dazai could see that blood had started seeping through the back of his hospital gown and he looked like he could barely breathe.

"You tore your stitches. It'll get infected if you leave it like that."

"I don't care. Just don't come near me!"

Dazai put up his hands, hoping to to calm the distraught child. "Ok. Ok. I won't come any closer. I'm just going to make myself comfortable near this medical gauze so we can talk." The boy said nothing, instead returning to his mantra of rocking back and forth, whispering.

"I'm a monster. I'm a monster. I'm a monster."

The words broke Dazai's heart. The boy was barely a teenager and here he was, having been shot, cowering in the back of a dark supply closet, and calling himself a monster.

"You're not a monster, Naoki."

"But I…I killed him." Naoki said through his sobs. Dazai thought the kid would pass out from lack of oxygen with the way he was hyperventilating.

"No, you didn't." he lied. Dazai didn't know Atsushi's condition but he was certain telling the boy the truth of the matter would cause more harm than good. He also couldn't bring himself to think about the possibly of Atsushi being dead.

Naoki leaned closer to the wall, like he was trying to push his way out through the plaster. He was wincing in pain with every hiccuped breath he took. Dazai couldn't see him that well in the dark but he could tell, the kid wasn't doing good, physically or otherwise.

"You should have just left me." The boy's soft voice broke Dazai from his thoughts.

"Wait…What?"

"None of this would have happened if you just left me there to die."

Dazai was in shock. The was a part of him couldn't understand how a child could talk like that. However, there was the other side of him, that understood perfectly well. He had spent a lot of time looking for a way to die. He couldn't have been much older than Naoki when he made his first attempt on his life. Dazai couldn't stop himself from reaching a sympathetic hand out to the boy one more time.

"Don't…don't touch me!"

"Why are you so afraid to let me touch you?"

"No!" the boy shrieked. "You'll die!" The boy's eyes flashed with that same intensity that he'd seen the previous night. His thoughts again went to Atsushi. Specifically, the moment the young agent found out that he was the weretiger that he had feared for so long.

"It was an ability, wasn't it? You're gifted." Naoki's eye widened in shock as he tried to back even further away from Dazai.

"You look surprised."

"How…How did you…?"

"It really wasn't that difficult to figure out. So what happened to Atsushi was part of your ability?"

"Yes. They…the men who us…they called me a life drainer."

"Us?" There was that word again. Dazai had to figure out what was going on. Naoki had just confirmed for the second time that he wasn't alone that night. The boy was clearly shaken up and too terrified to explain but Dazai had to find out who Naoki thought he was protecting by staying silent.

"You were kidnapped?" Dazai continued. The boy only nodded. "Listen, Naoki-kun. When I found you…you said one thing before you passed out. You said…help us. Who else did you mean? And who are these men in black that are after you?"

"I can't." Naoki whined, panic seeping into his voice once again.

"What can I do to get you to trust me?" Dazai sighed and shoved his hands in his coat pockets out of frustration when he felt the coolness of the jade charm in his pocket. His eyes went to the dragon around Naoki's neck.

 _Forgive me, Odasaku. I know you won't approve but I need answers._

"Naoki-kun." Dazai whispered, pulling the jade butterfly out of his coat, dangling it in front of Naoki's widened eyes. "Who does this belong to?"

"Where did you get that?" The boy hissed in pain as he stood up and tried to grab the charm from Dazai's hands. Dazai easily dodged the boy, snatching the necklace quickly out of his reach. Naoki tripped and as he fell, Dazai grabbed him and pinned the struggling boy down to the floor.

"No!" Naoki hollered as he fought against Dazai's grip. "That doesn't belong to you! Give it back!"

"I am done playing these games with you. I've been nice up until now." Dazai growled, tightening his hold on the boy. He tried his best not to hurt Naoki any worse than he already was, but the boy seemed to need both a physical and emotional shove off a cliff to get him to talk.

"Listen, you may very well have killed two of my friends upstairs so you are going to answer my questions."

"But you said…you said I didn't." Naoki gasped.

"I lied." Dazai said cruelly. He hated that he had to resort to this distasteful manipulation of a child but he needed to know now. Dazai swore that he would make it up the the kid later if he could.

"Please stop…I can't. I can't say…"

"Why not?"

Dazai was done negotiating with him. He couldn't do it anymore, not with Atsushi possibly dying two floors above them. Tanizaki didn't look so good when he left, either. Naoki had to answer his questions if he had any chance of helping them.

"Why not, Naoki-kun?" Dazai asked once more.

"They'll kill her!" The kid shouted and finally managed to shake his way out of Dazai's grip. Naoki crawled away from him, coughing and trying to catch his breath.

"Who?" Dazai asked.

"Stay away from me." The boy glared angrily at Dazai. "Please…if I say anymore…"

"I want to help you, kid. But you have got to trust me. Who are you trying to protect?"

"My sister."

"Your sister?"

"My twin."

"Wait…twins? Does that mean she also…?"

"Yeah. Our abilities…they're somehow connected. Like I said before, the guys in black called me some kind of a life drainer. My strength comes from draining the energy from a life force."

"And hers."

"Hikari. She's…she's a healer. Her abilities will restore a life forces energy. And she seems to be the only one not effected by my ability. She's also the only one who can stop me."

"Stop you?"

"I can't control it. My ability. When it activates, unless it decides to stop on its own, she's the only one that can snap me out it."

"Just like Chuya." Dazai whispered to himself.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. Naoki, is there anything else you can remember from the other night?"

"I don't know. We were running and she just let go of my hand. And now she's…she might be…" Tears began streaming from Naoki's eyes once again.

Dazai sighed as he sat back down and wrapped an arm around Naoki, letting him cry into his shoulder. The kid's panicked sobbing slowly eased into a calmer stuttering inhale as the physical and emotional strain finally caught up to him. Dazai felt the change in Naoki's breathing and looked down to find the young man asleep on his shoulder.

 _Not exactly what I had intended…but at least he's resting._

Comforting others wasn't exactly Dazai's forte. But even he had to admit that he'd gotten a lot better at it over the past year. Although, it did help that Atsushi usually broke down about once every ten minutes, so it gave Dazai a lot of practice.

 _Atsushi_

He wanted to to let Naoki sleep but he knew they couldn't just stayed locked up in the hospital supply closet all day. Dazai had to know more about the young man's ability, where his sister was, and if there was any possible way to help his fellow agent upstairs. The questions burned in Dazai's mind. He really wanted to go check on the others but he also didn't have the heart to wake the poor kid, either.

He didn't know whether it was the rhythm of Naoki's breathing, the dark warmth of the closet or just sheer exhaustion, but Dazai felt himself slowly drifting off to sleep. He wasn't sure how long his eyes had been closed when he could feel a panicked Naoki start trying to pull away from him. Dazai grabbed the young man tightly and tried desperately to get him to calm down.

"Easy…settle down kid. Breathe." Naoki suddenly stopped struggling when he noticed Dazai's arms around him.

"Wait, my ability? It's not…how are you not…?" Dazai expression softened and he smiled down at the young man now leaning against him.

"I'm gifted too."

* * *

Sorry for the delay. I sort of backed myself into a corner with the last chapter and I've rewritten this chapter three or four time before I finally decided I had to post it. Thanks again for all the reviews, favorites, and follows. They help keep me motivated. Hopefully the next chapter will be up faster.


	6. Aftermath

Kunikida held his stern look out the hospital room window as the rain cascaded outside.

He had arrived at the agency's office right on schedule and was just starting on his morning paperwork when he received Dazai's message. His text tone echoed off the walls of the otherwise silent office.

Kunikida groaned, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It was way too early in the morning to be dealing with the man's antics. Whatever the suicidal waste of bandages wanted, it could wait until after he was finished his morning duties. At the time, Kunikida honestly thought it was just Dazai being Dazai.

He now regretted waiting.

"Come on, Dazai! Answer your damn phone." he growled.

His mind was racing, trying to piece together information that he had gotten from a couple of nurses and Dazai's frantic voicemails. So far, all he could figure out was that some kid had managed to nearly kill two agents before fleeing and that Dazai was now in pursuit of the child.

Kunikida hung up once again and turned his gaze away from the window back into the dimly lit hospital room. The near silence of the room unnerved him. There was usually never a dull moment in the life of the agency. But to see two of the most energetic of his young cohorts this quiet seemed to suck all the life out of the room.

He spared a glance to watch the others keeping their silent vigil over the young man lying comatose in the bed next to them. Kunikida had managed to grab Ranpo and Kenji before racing off to the hospital. The pair of them were now watching over the mangled Atsushi, tubes and wires dangling from his frail body. Kenji was visibly shaken, his hands crushing the straw hat in them as he tried to control the tears streaming down his face. Ranpo was clearly rattled as well, looking like he was trying desperately to solve a puzzle in front of him but coming up empty.

Kunikida sighed and walked over to the other bed in holding Tanizaki. An oxygen mask covered most of the boy's pained expression. His eyes were shut tight but the boy's eyelids flinched in frantic unrest and his breathing came in sharp gasps. Kunikida noticed the bluish tint to his usually pale skin. His body was having a hard time getting enough oxygen and they had all panicked when he lost consciousness soon after the three of them arrived.

They were lucky though. His injuries only looked worse than they were. The physical ones, anyway. Despite an earlier attempt by Kenji, Tanizaki hadn't spoken a word since since they had arrived at the hospital. Kunikida could see guilt filter through the pain he saw on the boy's face.

"Has anyone called Naomi?" Kunikida asked his colleagues.

"She's on her way." Ranpo answered. He had lost a fight with Kenji on that one. The man's ears were still ringing from the shrieks he heard on the other side of the phone. All hell was going to break loose once the younger Tanizaki sibling showed up. As much trouble as Naomi was, Kunikida hoped it would at least lift Junichiro's spirits when he saw his little sister.

"Can we call Dr. Yosano? She should be able to help Atsushi, right?" Kenji asked.

"I've called three times already. She left early this morning for a medical conference overseas and her plane might still be in the air. Besides, even if she returns right away, she might not make it before…"

Kunikida didn't finish that sentence. He didn't want to.

"Kuniki…" Tanizaki wheezed. Kunikida chided himself for not keeping his voice down. He was really hoping that Tanizaki would be out for a little while longer. The kid was already blaming himself for not being able to protect Atsushi. He needed to rest.

"You shouldn't talk, Tanizaki. You've got a collapsed lung and a couple of busted ribs…"

"But…I…I couldn't…help…"

"That's enough. You did everything you could. Just rest now, Junichiro." The young agent nodded slightly, letting out a few more shaky breathes before shutting his eyes once more.

Kunikida wished that there was something he could do to reassure Tanizaki and the rest of the team that things were going to be okay. They had been in tough situations before but he never thought he'd see moral so low. But seeing Kenji's tear-stained face, Tanizaki's silent sobs, and Ranpo's hunched figure shattered his heart to pieces.

 _When did this kid suddenly become the heart of the agency?_

"What are we going to do?" Kenji's soft voice broke through Kunikida's troubled thoughts.

"I don't know, Kenji. We have no idea what that child did to Atsushi and Dazai's still missing. The man's still not answering my calIs. He could be in serious danger."

"I'm fine, Kunikida." The hushed whisper came from the doorway where Dazai's silhouette appeared.

"Dazai-san." Kenji whispered sadly.

Kunikida looked up to lock eyes with his partner. The eyes that meet him were sunken in and Kunikida could see the dark circles surrounding them. The man looked like he hadn't slept in years. His hair was a mess and still damp from the rain outside. Dazai's coat was torn and had traces of blood on it. Kunikida wasn't sure if it was Atsushi's, the kid's, or his own.

 _Damn, he looks terrible._

The older man brushed his way past the others and wandered over to his young subordinate's bedside. Kenji and Ranpo both quickly moved aside, giving the man some space. Kenji returned to Tanizaki's bedside, whispering gently to the injured man. Ranpo fell back to Kunikida's side, watching the gentle spectacle before him. Expressions of grief were rare for Dazai, tenderness even more so. It was better to stand aside to watch things play out than to be swept up in the aftermath later.

"I've been trying to call you. Where the hell did you run off to?" Kunikida didn't want to push Dazai but he needed his partner to answer him.

"Not now, Kunikida." Dazai's voice was barely above a whisper.

"Did you find the kid?" Ranpo asked carefully.

"I brought him back to his room. He agreed to have himself put under heavy sedation until we can figure out what to do with him. He doesn't want to accidentally hurt anyone else."

"Accidentally?"

"It's an ability." Dazai ignored the stunned look on his fellow agents faces as he once again turned his attention to his young subordinate.

Dazai looked like he scared to touch him, as if the slightest graze would fracture Atsushi's already fragile frame. Kunikida understood his hesitation. The boy's ashen skin was even more pale and so cold to the touch that Kunikida could have sworn he was made of ice. The only things indicating that Atsushi was even alive were the active beeps, clicks, and whistles of all the machines hooked up to him.

"What have the doctors said?"

"They can't seem to find the cause of his condition. It's almost as if his body is just shutting down with no real reason for doing so. They tried to take him off the respirator but his lungs, though not damaged, don't seem to want to function on their own. They've got him on life support for now but…"

"I touched him. It should have stopped."

Kunikida didn't understand. His partner's nullifying ability was absolute. Anyone Dazai touched found their ability deactivated immediately. No exceptions. The second he laid a hand on the boy, his ability should have stopped.

 _Why was Atsushi still like this? Was Dazai too late? Had the damage already been done?_

"What do we do, Dazai?" Kenji whispered. He had managed to nuzzle himself into Dazai's side, causing the man to sigh and lay a gentle hand on the younger boy's shoulder. Kunikida and Ranpo shared a look. Neither of them had ever seen Dazai look so defeated, not since he'd first arrived at the agency. Kunikida knew Atsushi was important to Dazai but he clearly hadn't realized just how much until that moment.

"I can't do this again." Dazai whispered.

"Dazai? Why don't we go out into the hall."

"But…"

"Ranpo and Kenji are both here to tend to Atsushi. It'll be okay."

"Fine. Please watch over him."

"Don't worry." Rampo said

"We're not going anywhere." Kenji confirmed

"Dazai." Kunikida said, gently guiding his partner out into the hall. He watched Dazai wince at the brightness of the hallway's lights as they shone in his eyes. At least the man could use it as an excuse for the tears he'd clearly been trying to hold back. Kunikida sighed, waiting for him to initiate the conversation. But he could see Dazai slowly spiraling, lost in chaos of his own mind.

"Dazai. Talk to me."

"I don't understand, Kunikida."

"Understand what?"

"Why can't I turn it off?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about."

"My chest feels tight. I can't breathe. I breathe in as deep as possible and I still feel like I can't get enough air. My eyes hurt from trying to hold back tears and I just don't understand what's happening to me."

"Dazai." Kunikida tried to interrupt his distraught partner from his frantic pacing. As his pace got faster, the words he said grew more erratic and confusing as well.

"I could always turn it off. Like my ability. No Longer Human. I wasn't human. I'm not human. I can always turn things off. Always. It didn't matter if I lost people or if bad things happened...cause I could always turn off the bad things...I used to be able to control it."

"Dazai!"

A loud smack echoed down the hospital hallway as Kunikida's palm connected with Dazai's face. He really didn't want to hit him but the man was becoming hysterical.

"Thank you." Dazai rubbed his now bruising cheek. "Did you have to hit me so hard?"

"Are you okay?" the blond replied, gently. Dazai nodded and the partners slipped back into silence.

"Why, Kunikida?" Dazai said, finally.

"Why what?"

"Why does this hurt so much?"

"It must be a consequence."

"A consequence of what, though?"

"Becoming human."

"Human?"

"Look, I'm not even going to begin imagine what you've been through your entire life to make you build up that fortress you keep around your emotions. But I think there was someone who finally put a crack in the foundation."

"Atsushi."

"Yeah, that kid has a way of worming into your heart when you least expect it." Kunikida took a deep breath before approaching the next topic of conversation. He dreaded bringing it up but they had to figure out what was going on. "Listen, we need to talk to the boy again."

"We do." Dazai sighed and straightened his shoulders. "But we need to be gentle."

"Gentle!" Kunikida raged. "That boy could have very well killed Atsushi!"

"He is a child, Kunikida-kun!" Dazai shouted, emphasizing the "kun". Kunikida was taken aback. Playing up the "kun" honorific became a regular occurrence in Dazai's daily torment of him. But this was the first time he had ever used it with such vicious undertones.

"He nearly died, his sister is missing, and he's in possession of an ability he has absolutely no idea how to control. The boy is terrified and he has no idea who he can trust."

"Okay." Kunikida backed down, putting his hands up in defeat. "Look, I'm sorry but until I know more I'm just trying to be cautious. Was he able to explain his ability to you at all?"

"It's a twin ability."

"Twins?"

"Yes. You know how rare that is?"

"Rare enough for somebody to want to capitalize off it." Kunikida sighed.

"Exactly."

"What are their abilities?"

"He didn't explain it very well to me but Naoki's ability seems to drain the life source from a being. He wasn't able to get into the specifics on how it works but it seems to be triggered by touch. His twin sister is just the opposite. Her ability will give a life force to an object or heal someone who's life force is being drained."

"A sister? You said she was missing. Where is she?"

"He doesn't know. When we discovered him, she was nowhere to be found."

"Does he know who took them? It couldn't be the Mafia? I know they're cruel but shooting children in the back is a little too much, even for them."

"It is too much." Dazai said. He walked back into the doorway of Atsushi's room. Kunikida watched the tears threatened to fall once again as he observed his team surrounding the wounded Atsushi. Dazai also spared a glance at Tanizaki in a restless sleep in the neighboring bed. He shouldn't have to see his team this way. Kunikida snapped out of his trance when Dazai turned to walk back out the door, heading for the hospital exit.

"What are you going to do, Dazai?" Kunikida said, as he followed him.

"I'm going to find Naoki's sister. It might be the only way we can save Atsushi's life."

"Dazai-san! Kunikida-san!" Kenji shouted as he came running down the hall franticly.

"Kenji, what's going on?"

"Atsushi. He's...he's..."

Dazai bolted back towards the hospital room before Kenji could even catch his breathe.

"Kenji, slow down. What's happened?"

"Atsushi…he's awake."


End file.
